Marine Supports Regimental Combat Team

CAMP LEATHERNECK, Afghanistan – Before a deployment, Marines train with their units, establish relationships and build camaraderie.

But one Marine prepared for her deployment with one unit, but was transferred to a different unit once she arrived here.

Marine Corps Cpl. Sasha Savage, a supply noncommissioned officer with Regimental Combat Team 7, deployed with Marine Air Ground Task Force Support Company, Reset and Reconstitution Operational Group, but moved to the regiment after a shortfall was identified.

Savage, a 23-year-old native of Beaverton, Mich., works with the regiment’s infantry battalions to ensure they are properly submitting supply requests and making responsible fiscal decisions. For an NCO, this is an important responsibility.

“Poor stewards of government spending and misappropriations of government funds are some things that supply absolutely has to be in tune with,” said Marine Corps 1st Lt. Donald Turner, the regimental combat team’s supply officer. “Being irresponsible with that is very unfavorable for a command.”

Savage’s role goes beyond being an NCO. She also has been trained to fill in as the supply officer if Turner has to leave the office to tour the regiment’s battle space.

“That’s the way we trained her, so that she could be here to answer questions if I’m not around,” said Turner, a 26-year-old Columbus, Ohio native and graduate of Ohio State University. “We wanted to create multiple capabilities within her as a Marine.”

For about two weeks, the team was unable to use scanners, so Savage improvised. She changed her daily run route to pass each of the battalion’s supply sections, and along the way, she picked up and dropped off paperwork. The route is just short of 5 miles, and she carried a backpack, but she just shrugged it off.

“I just dropped by and picked it up,” she said. “It’s really not that far.”

Such an attitude is not that uncommon with Savage, whose father served in the Army and Navy. She doesn’t brag about having learned a new job specialty by working as a night-watch clerk or that she has improved her Marine Corps martial arts skills to the brown belt level. And she recently finished writing a book report on “The Last Stand of Fox Company,” a book on the Marine Corps commandant’s reading list.

“When she came in, she was rather quiet about things,” Turner said. “Her path of leadership now is leading her peers -- leading by example. She’s actually trying to be the best NCO in the shop, and Marines are following her because of it.”

Savage has made a big impact on the supply section and will continue to be an important asset, Turner added.